The company also placed €470m in securities backed by receivables in its Australian subsidiary.

The securities are backed by a pool of 26,500 financing contracts. Around 75% are on new vehicles, with the remainder originated from the used segment.

According to VWFS, asset-backed securities and bonds, at €32.7bn and €33.7bn both accounted for around 18% of the company’s refinancing of 2017. Customer deposits were another major source of funding with €33.5bn.